country's accounts. As to my friend's request that I would enter into an agreement in order that my friend may collect all the taxes of my country, I would be very glad if my friend would set my country to rights and collect all the taxes." The bearer of that letter was a young officer who took part in the Perak expedition in the unsettled times of 1875. Very shortly afterwards he became British resident in Selangor. It is right to say that Mr. Swettenham, who later became Sir Frank Swettenham, contributed more to the early progress and prosperity of Malaya than did any other man. He became Governor in 1901 and stayed until 1904. Then, upon retiring, he lived to an active old age, and died in 1946, having collected his pension for about 45 years, which must be a record.
The history of Malaya shows that it has passed through many vicissitudes, but it has always been a progressive country, with a good soil, and with our help it has made tremendous developments. Just before the war it produced 40 per cent. of the world's tin and rubber. In 1938, with its population of only 5 million, its foreign trade was equal to half of that of India, with her 400 million people. The racial friendship which existed in Malay throughout our period there was most extraordinary, and is a great example to other parts of the world which may be having racial troubles today. The Malays, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Europeans lived in the greatest amity and friendship together, and there was seldom any trouble.
Unfortunately, the country was occupied by the Japanese during the war, and immediately afterwards a very regrettable incident occurred, when Sir Harold MacMichael suddenly asked all the Sultans to pass over their sovereign rights to the British Government. I remember taking part in a debate on 8th March, 1946, when this matter was discussed at great length and Mr. David Gammans—as he then was—gave some very interesting information concerning the way in which the sultans were compelled to sign away their rights in the greatest secrecy without there being any time for consultation. That was a very unfortunate period in our Administration.
We are now considering the creation, of Malaysia. In 1959 I had the pleasure of going on a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegation to visit those Borneo territories. A few minutes ago I saw two other hon. Members of that delegation in the Chamber, but I regret to say that they are now absent. At that time we found little demand for political development and certainly none for any idea of joining up with Malaya. It had not been seriously proposed even at that time, but the people of Sarawak and especially of North Borneo were completely happy and contended. The only thing they wished was to remain under the Colonial Office and to carry on as they had done since the war when they were taken over from the chartered company.
The idea of Malaysia has, of course, been put across, I believe, all too quickly. I think there is little doubt that undue propaganda was organised by the Colonial Office to achieve the support of these very uneducated and unpolitical people in all too short a time. I could have wished that this had taken very much longer and had been developed more slowly. It would have been a much greater success. All the same, conditions being what they are today, I believe that Malaysia will be a great success, but this will give added responsibility to those two very able men, Tunku Abdul Rahman, in Kuala Lumpur, and Lee Kuan Yew, in Singapore. They will have to be the fathers and mothers, so to speak, of the underdeveloped and primitive Borneo countries, and they have a great responsibility in taking over these countries at the present time. It would be quite wrong if they tried to treat those countries as equals, because they are not equals in any way.
For that reason it is very important that adequate safeguards should be built into the new Constitution. Many recommendations have been made, but I wonder if the Minister will tell us what power these safeguards will have. After today, when Malaysia is formed, we think we shall know what the safeguards which are to be built in may be, but I am not quite sure to what extent they could be changed by the Federation itself.
In some cases, I am inclined to think that the safeguards are insufficient. For example, I understand that the question of language in North Borneo is to remain much as it is today for the next 10 years, whereas in the case of Singapore the language remains on the same basis in perpetuity. If that is the case, why should not the language question and
